Highway 83 Project Near Sublette On Track

TOPEKA (Mary Clarkin)— The T-WORKS highway project near Sublette is on track to finish by late December 2017.

“The work stopped in November for the winter shutdown,” said KDOT spokesman Steve Swartz.

Senate Ways and Means Committee member Sen. John Doll told KDOT Secretary Richard Carlson in a hearing Tuesday that work began a couple years ago and drivers have complained about the reduced speed on U.S. 83 even when no work is visibly taking place.

Asked about about progress at the site, Swartz replied: “The $23.6 million project was awarded to Venture Inc., Great Bend, in April 2016.”

The project encompasses a new interchange at Kansas Highway 144 and construction of six miles of new 2-lane roadway with passing lanes. The interchange was completed at the end of 2016.

Work on the roadway will restart in early spring when the ground warms up.

The speed limit is still at the reduced 50 mph because even if work isn’t going on, it is still a work zone.

Some of the new structures associated with the project — such as drainage pipes — are located close to the existing road’s clear zone, an area kept clear of all but essential signs, Swartz said. The reduced speed limit remains in place as a safety measure, he said.